The Dublin Airport Authority (daa) is reported to have made an offer for the site beside Dublin Airport where the McEvaddy Brothers want to build a new passenger terminal, T3. According to a report in The Irish Times, in a 2017 letter outlining the offer, daa said it wanted to buy the lands as they “could be of use for some secondary airport activities”. However, daa made clear that if the offer was ignored, it would proceed with these activities elsewhere and “our interest in these lands will revert solely to agricultural values which are currently between €10,000 and €20,000 per acre”. The figure offered to the McEvaddys was in the region of €20 million, significantly below the valuation of the lands.
In 2017 Tricap Investments, a Dubai finance group, advanced around €35m to resurrect Mayo brothers Ulick and Des McEvaddy’s proposed Terminal 3 project. Tricap refinanced loans secured on three tracts of lands at the airport, some previously held in Nama, and lent about €4m in working capital to advance the project.
The land in question comprises a total of 128 acres at Huntstown and Dunbro Lane, and was previously held by companies owned by the McEvaddys, the Monks family and Gerry Gannon. A new company was formed at the time to hold the land, Tri-Aviation Project Co.
A terminal on the western side of Dublin Airport has been in the pipeline for years. In the late 1990s Fingal County Council refused to greenlight the proposed construction of a private terminal and the McEvaddys appealed to the European authorities. The terminal was supported by Michael O’Leary and Ryanair as a lower cost alternative to the Aer Ríanta terminal as it was at the time. But in 2002 the EU Commission ruled there had been no breach of competition law. It’s estimated a third terminal at Dublin and the associated increase in traffic could add up to 20,000 jobs to the Irish economy.
